eBay fees to go DOWN, free gallery
23/01/2008 at 22:30
Yes that’s right, eBay fees are to go down, although we don’t have the detail yet. However on slide 10 of the Q4 2007 Financial Highlights sets out the results of eBay’s tests over the last year.
Specifically eBay say their conclusion is to “introduce a New 2008 Price Restructure with an announcement upcoming to Sellers next week”. This is on the basis that sellers are more interested in reducing upfront fee risk… back-end success fee reductions are secondary. “Buyers like pervasive photos across all listings” so expect to see free gallery introduced on all listings, plus tests have shown better conversion rates in Free Gallery tests.
So that’s what we can expect – lower insertion fees, slight increase to final value fees and free gallery for sure. Expect to see announcements over the next week on Feedback, Pricing, Support and protection. 2008 is shaping up to be a great year for trading on eBay.
Whirly says
10:34 pm on 23/01/2008
Good news.
Chris Dawson says
10:34 pm on 23/01/2008
More interesting Bob Swann eBay CFO expects eBay’s take to reduce, ie they’ll make less money from sellers. However over time they expect to recoup this with increased business.
Great news for sellers though, you’re going to pay less to eBay!
J R says
10:40 pm on 23/01/2008
any guesses on the reduction in insertion fees,
for example it currently costs £1.65 (with gallery) to list an item over £30 – that was very off putting and should have been addressed a long time ago,
what do you reckon this will reduce to
Sue Bailey says
10:44 pm on 23/01/2008
“Customer loyalty programs” sounds interesting – is that the “bulk purchase” for fees we were expecting?
Sue Bailey says
10:45 pm on 23/01/2008
J R, I think you’ll have to wait until there’s a specific fees announcement for eBay UK – it’s kinda pointless to speculate to the last penny at this point.
Chris Dawson says
10:46 pm on 23/01/2008
JR we’ll have to wait a few days for the detial and then to work out how best to apply it to our businesses
Yes Sue, I LIKE the sound of “Customer loyalty programs”
Sue Bailey says
10:55 pm on 23/01/2008
Oh.
It sounds like the “customer loyalty program” is for “top buyers”.
Chris Dawson says
11:06 pm on 23/01/2008
Further snippet, it looks like SIF listings will carry on having visibility on core when less than a certain number of core results are returned.
It’ll be really interesting to see how the changes pan out in the actual fee details. One thing to bear in mind is the UK is slightly different to the UK so wait for the UK announcements before you change listing strategy based on the US if they announce change detail first.
Susie says
11:20 pm on 23/01/2008
It’s not before time!
Ebay listing fees are massive for multiple ‘Buy it Now’ items so a reduction would be very welcome.
I wont hold my breath though – they have been saying this for the last 4 years – no reduction yet!!
A sliding scale of charges based on volume of sales would be a fairer way of charging (ie discounts for the bigger sellers)!
Suz says
11:21 pm on 23/01/2008
Hall-eh-blerdy-lu-ya
About time, until I see it happen I am going to remain cautious
In some ways free gallery for all, is a bit of a slap to those of us who have always paid for it – as its going to level the playingfield for all sellers. Though, a competitive market isnt always a bad thing.
I envisage more and more peeps (including the hobby sellers) spending more time on their pics, as they are going to become overtly visible rather than an afterthought, so overall it could be a good thing and raise the buyer experience, and expectations, and move alway from “the great big car boot sale” eBay has currently been branded.
The photo quality, I would imagine (due to stock photos) has giving customers confidence in Amazon and other market venues, over eBay, as faced with some of the pictures I have seen recently, I wouldnt purchase the item.
In fact, one of my suppliers put an awful picture up of his stock, thankfully I had seen it in store knew what it was and cleared it, he actually wondered why no one else wanted it – it simply was just what is said it was, but the presentation let it down.
Off my soapbox again
Randy Smythe says
11:22 pm on 23/01/2008
I’m not sure that Gallery will be free. Bob Swan mentioned they would make it more attractive. So the fee may just be reduced.
The fees will be announced next week at the eCommerce event for Top Sellers in Washington DC. It will be announced the the whole community at the same time is what I’ve been told.
Chris Dawson says
11:37 pm on 23/01/2008
Hey Randy, be very interested to see when the UK fees are announced (maybe the same day, maybe not) and also how much of the info from today translates to the UK, Germany and other eBay sites. US guys often forget about the rest of the world when talking generally about site changes….
Also very interested with what’s going to happen with eBay Express (if anything).
Sue Bailey says
12:08 am on 24/01/2008
Share price up 6.67% – I think we can say all that news went down pretty well
Randy Smythe says
12:09 am on 24/01/2008
Sorry about that Chris, we do tend to only think about our own little world.
Donahoe did mention that many of the changes that have been in place in France and Korea will make their way to the other sites. Sue would have some good insights into what is happening in France.
Randy Smythe says
12:10 am on 24/01/2008
Sue, it wnet back down After Hours
After Hours: 27.49 1.45 (5.01%) as of 6:49PM ET on 01/23/08
It was up 6.67% before they announced.
Randy Smythe says
12:52 am on 24/01/2008
Chris, it looks like they will announce UK, US and DE fee changes all next week.
I think I missed that on the call buy Scot Wingo wrote it ip.
Sue Bailey says
8:17 am on 24/01/2008
Yep, Scot is right, actual fee changes are to be next week. Yet more wait and see – I can’t bear it.
Sue Bailey says
8:21 am on 24/01/2008
Oh, re. eBay Express: I can’t remember JD’s exact words, but it sounded VERY much to me like we will see the end of Express as a separate site, and that those items will be reintegrated into core. I’d imagine something like the “neuf et immediat”/”sofort und neu” flags on eBay.fr/.de, indicating new items with BIN prices and postage costs listed. Fingers crossed: N&I worked very well for me before Xmas.
northumbrian says
9:09 am on 24/01/2008
I dont care at all about fee changes, I need more sellers like I need a whole in the head, its more buyers that float my boat
Tony Osprey says
9:17 am on 24/01/2008
The music and media categories in the uk have already been reduced with low listing fees and higher final value fees, free or cheap galleries are without a doubt a bad idea, for professional sellers this is one of the last options that sets their items apart from the other items.
The idea of a gallery image is to set your item apart from the others, if every item has one then the desired effect with not happen.
Louise says
10:46 am on 24/01/2008
When was the last dramatic change announced and how long did it take to come into effect? (I mean change for all sellers, not limited to certain categories)
To my recollection it was the change to SIF prices coming up to 18 months ago and those changes took about 2 months to come into practice ?
Be interesting to see how long we have to prepare for this jump.
Chris Dawson says
11:22 am on 24/01/2008
Hi Louise, although we still don’t know the detail of the changes (especially what we’ll get in the UK – it’s been stated the US, UK and Germany will be similar and all announced next week) it’ll take at least a month to come into effect. eBay are obligated to give a months notice of fee changes so expect them to kick in in March
Paul Wonton says
11:49 am on 24/01/2008
Those who do not already use gallery pics will save nothing but will pay higher FVF…
Selling in the Toys catagory over Christmas I saw a very deffinate increase in my fees (much more than the 10/15p I saved on the gallery).
Tell enough people enough times that it will be cheaper and they start to believe you.
Louise says
12:06 pm on 24/01/2008
Thanks Chris,
The timing isn’t too bad if you think about it with Royal Mail price changes come into force in April.
Simon L says
12:42 pm on 24/01/2008
Great news, but i’ll believe it when it happens, for so long now it has been give with the left and take with the 4 right hands!!
I’m keeping my eye on paypal to make sure nothing is recouped from their
Josordoni says
1:24 pm on 24/01/2008
Everyone should expect overall fees to go up, probably at least in line with inflation like everything else in this world.
You know the Benjamin Frankling quote, I am sure: “‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
You can add cost of sales increases (in the real B&M world as well as here on eBay, don’t forget…) to that saying….and why not? I don’t see any of us delightedly assuring our buyers that we plan to make a lower profit this year, or to absorb additional costs, why should we expect eBay to be any different to the rest of us?
The point is that the balance of the fee structure is scheduled to alter, and so a seller’s sale model should be reviewed in light of the new structure.
Dan Wilson says
1:40 pm on 24/01/2008
http://seekingalpha.com/article/61326-ebay-inc-q4-2007-earnings-call-transcript
Just trawled through the transcript of the call. Some interesting stuff. My takeaway? I’d say that the changes next week aren’t going to be it. The tone is one of ‘permanent revolution’: ongoing changes and tweaks and testing. We’re really going to have to be on the ball.
northumbrian says
2:34 pm on 24/01/2008
I am going to leave the worrying to others, and simply sell thats my job,
Sue Bailey says
3:47 pm on 24/01/2008
The tone is one of ‘permanent revolution’: ongoing changes and tweaks and testing.
Which has apparently been Donahoe’s management style all along. I think we’re going to be living in interesting times
Josordoni says
3:51 pm on 24/01/2008
Oh dear…..
Dan Wilson says
4:55 pm on 24/01/2008
Lynne: death and taxes. Isn’t it Voltaire?
Josordoni says
6:17 pm on 24/01/2008
Hmmmmm…..I got it from here:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/death-and-taxes.html
which says Benjamin Franklin in a letter – I Googled Voltaire death and taxes, but can’t seem to find it…have you got the exact quote?